


Between Mine and Yours

by IchiBri



Series: JMMonth2017 [6]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Jean saving Marco, M/M, Mild Gore, Swapped Roles, canonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 13:50:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11291961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IchiBri/pseuds/IchiBri
Summary: Jean spots a titan heading toward Marco and does what he has to in order to save Marco.JeanMarcoMonth2017 - Prompt Choices/Instinct





	Between Mine and Yours

The degrees to which pain was felt marveled Jean.  He could stub his toe on a table in the dining hall and feel the earth crash down upon his foot.  He’d yelp and bemoan his fate, cussing out the table for being in his way while blinking back the sting of tears, because there was no way in hell he’d cry in front of the rest of the 104th trainees.  He’d suck in sharp gasps of breath as the searing ache ran up his leg.  But he’d walk it off.  With every hidden wince, Jean swore he broke his toe, but it was never as bad as it felt.

Yet when it was bad, Jean didn’t feel a thing.

“Jean!  Why would– Why?”

He blinked through the haze of dust in the air.  The tiny dirt particles hung suspended on the breeze.  A few swirled upward with the release of steam from the slain titan corpse.  The steam rolled off the titan in waves, billowing outwards before rising into the sky, and Jean sighed at the rush of heat blown against his face.

His eyes fell shut once the flesh of the titan dissipated to bone.  It wouldn’t be standing up again.  It wouldn’t be fighting.

But then, neither would he.  His cheek pressed into the cobblestone – surprisingly cold despite the heat to the air – and his body suddenly felt far too heavy for him to lift.  Yet he knew, the opposite was true.  Lighter than that morning, than fifteen minutes ago, Jean was less of a man than ever before.

Still, Jean couldn’t bring himself to regret his decision.  He wasn’t sure he could even call it that.  In the moment, he didn’t have a choice.  He reacted without a second thought.

Up on the rooftops, he felt the rush of air against his cheeks as he soared over them.  Smoke swirling and houses falling, he kept Wall Rose in sight.  So close, he could almost taste the safety of her stone.

But as he fired the 3DMG wire at a chimney, he noticed a stray titan in the street he passed over.  He would’ve ignored it in any other situation.  After all, it was headed away from the wall, and he was sure the remaining Survey Corps squads would deal with any stragglers.  As a trainee, his priority was getting to the safety of Wall Rose.

But priorities changed the moment he saw the swords of the trainee emblem.  He fired the wire and spun after the titan as his friend’s name spilled from his lips.  The sound echoed in his ears, pounding against his skull as if begging to be called again.

“Marco!”

The name ripped from Jean’s lungs with such force that his throat burned with a searing ache.  His next breath scorched its way down, but he hadn’t the time to cough or sputter.

Jean swore he saw Marco’s name carry on the wind.  The sound trailed ahead of him, raced over the titan’s shoulder, and darted for Marco’s ear.  Its tail end wiggled like a worm as it burrowed further, disappearing altogether with the slow turn of Marco’s head.

A brow furrowed with confusion arched as eyes widened with the shock of fear.  The breeze blew through short, parted bangs.  The strands fluttered with a gentleness that clashed the frantic grabbing for blades.  But fumbling fingers struggled to attach blades to their grips as the titan stopped before him.

The titan’s neck was wide open.  One good slice, and Jean could down the beast with a single swing.  He aimed the wires at its flesh, but its sweeping arm deflected them.

The titan grabbed Marco, large fingers curling around his body and squeezing the life from him.

Jean’s stomach lurched as he dropped straight down.  He fired a wire at the rooftop, foregoing gathering himself to fire the other past the titan’s opening mouth.

Swinging forward, Jean slashed at the titan’s wrist.  He put his full weight behind the blades, slicing through enough of the muscle for the fingers to go limp.

Marco fell to the roof, his gear clinking and clashing against the red clay shingles.  Jean wanted to sigh his relief when Marco gasped for a breath, wanted to smile when Marco gazed up at him through the watery shine to his eyes.  But those light brown eyes dilated as lips fell open to shout.

Jean barely registered his name on Marco’s breath.  The crack of bones and the grinding of teeth drowned it out as a spray of blood splattered the freckles of Marco’s cheeks.

The burning pain hit him a heartbeat later, and he sealed his lips against the screams clawing up his throat.  His vision swam red, blurred by both blood and shock.  He didn’t know which hurt worse, the titan’s teeth biting through his flesh or the grind of the teeth as the mouth opened for a second taste.

Jean’s eyelids fluttered closed as the nasty, humid breath of the beast stuck to his skin like beads of sweat.  Drops of titan saliva – mixed with his own blood – landed upon his cheek as he gulped down what he assumed to be his last breath.

The titan’s tight grip closed around Jean, steam rolling up its fingers.  The heat, sweat, and blood matted Jean’s hair to his forehead as the titan squeezed.  A breathless, choked gasp escaped him, and his eyes peered through heavy lashes to see stars.

As his consciousness waned and his lungs burned for breath, the pressure released.  The fingers slackened as the titan swayed on its feet.  Swept away by its hand, Jean fell from the rooftop to the cobblestone street below.  He rolled a few meters from the slain titan, dirt embedding itself into the open flesh of his shoulder.

But his missing limb, the concussion he surely had, Jean didn’t feel either of them.  The searing pain dulled to a mere discomfort, as if he sat too long and his leg fell asleep.  He knew that couldn’t have been a good sign, that pain meant he was still alive, but Jean had proof enough in the muddled words he heard.

“Jean!  Why would– Why?”

The thump of boots upon stone had Jean blinking his eyes open.  The boots ran over to him, stopping only inches away.  With his next blink, Jean saw knelt legs and arms reaching out to him.  Their touch, firm yet gentle, could heal souls, but Jean doubted it’d heal his body.

“Why’d you do that?  You idiot, you could’ve been eaten!  You were eaten!”

Jean blearily gazed up at earthy eyes brimming with tears.  He smiled, small and wavering, as he reached for Marco’s cheek.  But the thumb he wished to rub along his jaw was a phantom.  “Because in a choice between my life and yours, I’ll always choose yours.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yo, Jean lives. Cause I'm not into chara death, so hopefully that'll make it hurt a tad bit less.
> 
> Find me @ichibri on tumblr and twitter


End file.
